diet

[amandapyman]

hi all, i am new to this forum and new to irish setters, what is the best diet for setters, i have a vizsla who is on arden grange large breed puppy and my setter who is 8 wks old is on beta large breed puppy, which is the food the breeder gave me.

thanks

amanda, holly and alfie

[ursula wilby]

Unfortunatly any dog trying to survive on my left-overs, would not last very long! :-)

One person-households dont create enough scraps to feed even a cat...let alone a couple of setters.

[Dee Rance]

Oh I am with you there, my dogs would be the walking dead if they were to live on my leftovers as well. As you say One person-households..and coming from Scotland (very frugal) only cook what I can eat.....
My daughters Vizsla has a skin problem he is on Arden Grange, but his are alleges.. he is allergic to everything. Perhaps it is a Vizsla thing..
Again we all seem to agree that ''you choose the food for your dog'' and all dogs are different they have different needs some are (in horse terms) good doers. and some need special feeding, because they don't do so well...Its knowing your dog. We should all be observant as far as our dogs are concerned, for health and food problems, sometimes that is one in the same thing. good debate......

[Laura Kolbach]

just a short note: it is not a vizsla thing. i live in the home of vizslas, and am 100% sure. i think your daughters are just unlucky to have an allergic one. :-(

[Dee Rance]

Thanks for that Laura
He is such a lovely specimen and a lovely boy, so easily trained, but he has very little hair, it is such a shame, any suggestions????

[Henk ten Klooster]

Support for "healthy animals will do OK on very varied diets". If not don't breed them, this is the least selection that you can do. The amount of food advised on packages is on average far too much for working setters, they are average here 18-22 kg bitches 22-26 dogs, most meals are based on 30kg+setters.

[ursula wilby]

We are agreeing Henk!!!!!!!!!!
And yes, the amount of food suggested by the producers is allways way over the top! But not only for setters...I suppose the more they eat, the more you sell and THEN = WOW, you can sell diet food as well! I do have quite a few puppy-buyers that find it hard NOT to follow the amount given on the packet. And it shows.

[Jo Ottinger]

I have been reading everyone's responses and it is so interesting. I have been feeding Canidea and with them changing the formula I am looking for another diet for my girls. I have been feeding dry dog food mixed with fruit and veggies. and once a week I mix in raw liver. When Scout was ill it was recommended to feed him a liver cleansing diet to help his liver from all the toxins from the meds and the effect of SLE. The support group I joined has the diet listed on their site. Scout loved it and would eat every bit of it.

All my dogs have their teeth also and are very sweat natured. They also like to clean out the cat box and anything else they can find.

[lyn hathaway]

hi amanda we too feed our red setter and boxer on tripe

[Kristin]

I am interested in the comment on temperment being affected by food. My short haired pup is a rescue of unknown origins (most likely a back yard breeder, but I don't tell him that). :) When I first got him I asked on this site about coat health and care (there should be a string somewhere on this site). I have since fed him Nature's Variety Instinct and Prairie foods. He has a great temperment and great teeth and his coat has improved. I am not giving him supplements but I will put olive oil on his food. I imagine low quality foods of any type - raw or dried - could cause problems. So I just tried to find something of high quality that works for me and him. Maybe someday I will experiment with a raw diet to see if there is a difference. He always eats his food with gusto - he is very food motivated.

[ursula wilby]

I was also very interested regarding the supposed connection food/temperament and asked about this...but so far, no reply.

I do feel that a lot of facts concerning food (both for animals and humans) will change over the years. I know I am showing my age here, but I remember clearly that when I was a child the saying was that you should NEVER feed a dog with raw meat!
The reason?
Well any dog once having tasted "real meat" could thereafter never be trusted again and was likley to attack his owner.
Seeing that my first dog (a poodle) ate mince at times and never bit me :-) I thought there was not all that much to it.
And of course now a saying like that is just a total joke!

[Dee Rance]

In the 'olden days' when we were young Ursula, we were always told that we should eat at least a teaspoon-full of salt a day and full cream milk was the best thing to have, we cooked with butter and cream, and now.....all these things are bad for us. Times change......and so do our thoughts on food etc.
There always seems to be an element of truth in these 'old wives tale's' BUT I think that this one is one of those that don't actually mean anything, and should be taken with a pinch of salt...pardon the pun...a bit like the one that says that if a bitch has a miss mating with another breed then she should be destroyed because she will always produce an odd puppy or two in any other litters.
Like you I always fed the dogs on raw meat, this included the Akita's and lets face it, they would be more likely to 'bite the hand that feeds them' they NEVER did, mind you they never would dare to. There was mutual respect between us. But I do think that some lines have more of a tendency to have a temperament problem. As far as your English is concerned Eve I should like to be able to speak ANY other language, you probably speak English better than most of us!!!!!

[ursula wilby]

Ok Eva, I can buy the whole concept.
Even if I dont apply it.

But I find it VERY strange indeed that you will actually take a leap from owners giving dried dog-food to these owners dogs not being allowed to be dogs.

I can not see that introducing ideas definatly not based on any fact (dogs eating dried dog-food = not allowed to get muddy) helps putting your point across.

And yes you do have a valid point!
We do ALL eat a lot of crap.
But then life has changed, we dont all have the time to cook dogfood or even our own food from scratch, and in fact where is scratch?
Is it not breeding the chicken yourself?
Is it not keeping your own lambs?
Growing your own vegetables?
Not until you are actually doing all that are you (almost) certain there will be no additives.

Ursula
(Present Chicken/egg and former pig+lamb producer on a very small scale)